Configuring Gmail aliases on an iPhone

I got a new iPhone a couple of days ago, and one of the things I need to set up is sending & receiving email. That’s not too hard but you have to ignore the obvious way (Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars -> Add Account -> Gmail) and instead use Add Account -> Microsoft Exchange (seriously!) if you want to auto-sync your contacts.

The next challenge is to set it up so I can send emails using my aliases – in Gmail (website) I can pick which of my addresses I use in the From: field. This is important because I use one email address with friends, one for work, and one for everything else. So how do I configure the iPhone to use these aliases? I found a couple of web pages with partial information, so I thought I should write the step-by-steps instructions here:

For the Incoming Mail Server fields, enter anything (I used “x”) for the Host Name and User Name as these are irrelevant.

For the Outgoing Mail Server fields, the Host Name is smtp.gmail.com; use your default Gmail user name (e.g. myname@gmail.com) and password.

Hit Save.

You’ll get a pop-up that says it “Cannot Connect Using SSL”; hit No.

Hit Save again. You’ll get another warning pop-up (you may not be able to send or receive) but hit Save to confirm the action.

Re-open that account (tap the email address e.g. alias@domain2.com) and now you can remove the Incoming Mail Server fields – delete all 3 fields then hit “Mail..” (top left corner of the screen) to return to your Accounts list.

While you’re in the Accounts page, scroll down to Default Account and tap on it, then select your default Gmail email address (e.g. myname@gmail.com) then return to the Accounts page.

Now it’s configured, test it by creating a new email message – tap the “Cc/Bcc, From:” line to open it up into three fields, and then you should see your alias listed under the From: field.

p.s. I still see a copy of the email I sent in my Gmail (web page) Sent Mail box even though I don’t have “Always Bcc Myself” turned on.

I guess things have changed since I wrote this 9 months ago, and I’d rather not wipe my settings to re-try this in case there is a problem. If I get a chance I’ll create a new gmail account and see if I can set it up too.